Eternity
by tigerrcat18
Summary: Phil is dead and Dan is dying. But Phil is still there with Dan, he has always been. Warning this is sad and stuff. Angst. I do not know Dan and Phil and they are not dead. This is work of my own imagination. Enjoy.


The most beautiful human being I have ever met in my life is lying on the hospital bed in front of me, all plugged up, sleeping.

You.

I watch your chest rise and fall. I reach out, fingers skimming over your hair, all curly and cute, just how I like it. It's grey, so many years of life drained the color out of that gorgeous "hobbit hair" of yours. I smile softly, remembering the way you used to get so fussed about your hair, trying to get it straight. I remember the time I hid your straightener from you and you had curly hair for the whole day. You were so annoyed at me, but it was worth it. You looked so perfect. Perfect. Even now, lying here, old and tired, that's how you look.

I trace my hands down over your face, pausing at your mouth to catch some of the air that escapes through the crack between your lips; holding it, preserving it, soaking it up. My hands wander to your chest, letting my palm rest over your heart. The beats are slower, fainter than they should be. I try not to think about this. I reach down to your hands and wrap them up in my own. Time seems to slip away as we sit there in silence; me going nowhere, you nearing the end. I am struck by how cold your hands feel, even compared to my lifeless, perpetually empty body. It's not long before I am undone; months, even years, of holding back and keep quiet spill over the edge of my eyelids, falling onto our clasped hands.

"Phil?" My head snaps up and you are staring at me, eyes wide but not disbelieving.

"Oh Danny." We stay like this, hand in hand, for some time, just staring at each other.

"You haven't changed." You murmur, reaching up to touch my face.

"Neither have you." I reply. This is an obvious lie and we both know it. Here you lay in front of me, grey-haired and covered in wrinkles, while I am youthful; still my 29 year old self, still the same. "What are you?" You inquire. I tell you that I don't know, that ii've had 60 years to find out and I haven't given it any thought. You ask me why. I was watching you.

Silence.

"How come I can see you?" You know why, but I answer anyway.

"You're dying, love." You nod, unfazed by this.

"How long have you been...here?" You leave the question open-ended, not defining "here", leaving it for me to decode.

"Since the day I died." It's true. I've been with you. Holding your hand as you cried, walking next to you on the street, and here I am now, so many years later.

"That night..." You stop. I raise an eyebrow. You try again. "I was drunk. You were there. I could see you." I nod, remembering this. It was a month after I died that you drank a bottle of tequila, plus some. I watched as you lay passed out, horrified and unsure of what to do. it wasn't until you came to and _saw _me that I realized I could do something, but it would be too late. So I called out for help and disappeared. "I could see you..." you say again.

"You were dying." I explain. You lived. I kept my distance after that. Until today.

"You should have remarried." I say suddenly. You shake your head.

"No, there is not a single person who could have taken your place, Lion." I smile at the same.

"They didn't have to replace me, Dan. You needed someone."

"I had you." I consider this. It always seemed like you could feel my presence. Sometimes you would talk out loud, never expecting answers. I always responded, though you didn't know that. Sometimes you said you loved me and smiled, like you could hear me saying it back and feel me reaching out to touch you. Sometimes I sang you to sleep. Those were the nights you slept the best.

"Does it hurt?" For the first time tonight, you look scared, unsure.

"Dying? No. It's euphoric, almost..." Suddenly there are beeping noises and there are nurses surrounding you, pulling you away from me.

"Stay." You whisper. I nod to you. A nurses asks you what you are talking about, talking quietly. You don't notice her. You are watching me.

"Will I see you? You ask. "After, I mean." I shake my head.

"I don't know."Nurses move around you, supplying you with oxygen, trying to keep you here. But you look at me and I know what you want.

"Let go." I whisper. "I'll catch you." You nod and look up at a nurse, the same one who had been talking to you moments ago.

"Stop." your voice is raspy but firm. They look at you. "I have no family left. I want to go. There is nothing left for me here." The nurses consider this in hushed voices and then one looks at you.

"Are you sure?" She asks. You are. They slowly leave, all except one. She unplugs you, kisses your forehead and then turns and looks directly at me. Then she leaves, silently.

Suddenly you are crying. I rush to your side, placing my hands on your cheeks and pulling your forehead to mine.

"I love yo, Phil."

"I love you too, Danny." Your eyes flutter shut an I lean down, pressing my lips to yours for a second. You smile.

"See you on the other side." And like that you are gone. Your heart stops and I can almost feel your body deflate, lifeless. I look around me. You aren't there. I knew you wouldn't be.

I go to your funeral, follow you to your burial, slip inside your casket with you and allow myself to be lowered into the ground alongside of you. They throw dirt over us, sealing you (and me) in. And there we lay, for eternity. You rot away and I allow myself to rot with you. Soon I am nothing. But I am still watching over you.


End file.
